2020 June
NMSU and ExxonMobil have signed an agreement that will create a collaboration to coordinate research involving produced water projects and provide educational opportunities for students. “This is a wonderful opportunity for NMSU to collaborate with ExxonMobil to leverage the expertise of both academia and industry to try and find solutions to our nation’s water challenges,” said NMSU Chancellor Dan Arvizu. “This agreement illustrates NMSU’s strength in water and environmental engineering research.”
2020 April
NMSU student teams placed second in the 30th annual WERC Environmental Design Contest. Congratulations to Guanyu Ma, Taylor Stutely, Lei Mu, and Lin Chen for competing in task 5, Produced Water Cleanup and Rare Earth Element Recovery.
2019 October
The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and NMSU created the New Mexico Produced Water Research Consortium (NM-PWRC). Through this consortium, New Mexico will continue to lead the country in advancing scientific and technological solutions related to the treatment and reuse of produced water generated by the oil and gas industry.
2019 September
2019 August
Pei Xu was promoted to professor and awarded the Herb Ward Family Endowed Interdisciplinary Chair in Environmental and Water Science at NMSU.
2019 July
Reclamation awards $5.1 million in research for new ways to desalinate and treat water. NMSU Researchers received two awards to develop solar driven desalination technologies.
2019 June
Drs. Pei Xu and David Johnson collaborate with Professors Miguel Acevedo (PI) at University of North Texas, and Ryan Bailey and Jordan Suter at Colorado State university, will conduct a 5-year study to increase crop yields in areas with high salinity soils by improving irrigation water quality through desalination powered by renewable energy, restoring soil fertility, and reducing fertilizer applications through regeneration of the soil microbial community. The project is funded by National Science Foundation INFEWS program.
2019 May
Congratulations to Alfredo Nahum Zendejas Rodriguez for the NMSU Masters Outstanding Graduate Award.
Alfredo with NMSU Chancellor Dr. Dan Arvizu, President Dr. John Floros, and Vice President of Research Dr. Luis Cifuentes at the 2019 award ceremony.
2019 April
Congratulations to Million Tesfai for passing the final exam. Million’s Master thesis is titled “Development of Antifouling Anion-exchange Membranes to Improve Electrodialysis Performance”.
NMSU civil engineering student team won the first place in the open task category of the 29th annual WERC Environmental Design Contest. Kim Fetherlin, Annie Carrillo, Michael Justesen and Juliano Penteado De Almeida, presented their design to increase water recovery and reduce membrane scaling using electromagnetic field and 3D printed open flow channel membranes.
2019 March
Congratulations to Alfredo Nahum Zendejas Rodriguez for passing the final exam. Alfredo’s Master thesis is titled “Assessment of Produced Water Treatment Technologies for Beneficial Use in the Permian Basin”.
NMSU, consortium partners to vie for $100 million Hub to address water challenges.
2018 August
Bureau of Reclamation selects 16 projects to receive $3.5 million for desalination and water purification research for Fiscal Year 2018. Drs. James King, Pei Xu, Alexander Fernald, and Kenneth Carroll were awarded a pilot-scale project titled “Assessment and Implementation Framework for Transboundary Brackish Groundwater Desalination in South-central New Mexico” by the Reclamation Desalination and Water Purification Research Program Grant.
Dr. Pei Xu was selected for the PESCO Endowed Professorship in Industrial Water Quality and Reclamation Research by the College of Engineering.
Welcome Juliano Almeida, a new PhD student, to join the EnLITE Research Group!
Chathurika Bandara’s research on potable water recovery through combined algal and hybrid membrane processes is featured in New Mexico Water eNews August.
2018 July
Drs. Pei Xu and Huiyao Wang collaborate with Dr. Mikhael Bechelany at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut Européen des Membranes (IEM), France, to develop multifunctional solar photocatalytic membranes for wastewater treatment and reuse. The team was selected for funding by the Thomas Jefferson Fund bilateral selection committee by the “Make Our Planet Great Again” Initiative. This two-years project involves exchange of faculty and students, as well as collaborative research activities between the EnLITE and the IEM.
Congratulations to Ahmed Radhi Mkaouar, a Fulbright student, for successful completion of his master’s thesis titled “Adsorption and photocatalytic oxidation of pharmaceuticals using TiO2 under UV and visible light irradiation”.
2018 June
Drs. Pei Xu and Huiyao Wang visited the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut Européen des Membranes (IEM), Montpellier, France, to develop collaborations on innovative membranes for water reuse and desalination.
Pictures of Dr. Mikhael Bechelany showing a research lab at the IEM, and Dr. Xu giving a seminar to the IEM researchers.
Dr. Xu completed a comprehensive training during the AAAS fellow orientation week in Washington DC. She had opportunities for discussions about the public engagement and institutional change plans; skill-building sessions; discussions with public engagement researchers, journalists, and public engagement practitioners; and opportunities for short public engagement practical experiences. It was a fantastic experience to work with the AAAS program managers and the Leshner fellows!
Check the Facebook Live: Food, Water and Society, broadcasted by Dr. Pei Xu, Dr. Julie Lesnik with Wayne State university, and Dr. Merritt Turetsky with University of Guelph.
2018 May
Congratulations to Xuesong (Eric) Xu on graduating with a PhD from NMSU! Eric will continue his research as postdoctoral associate in the EnLITE.
Congratulations to Lin Chen, Chathurika Bandara, Xiaoxiao Cheng, and Lei Hu, PhD students in environmental engineering, for being the recipients of the FY18 NM WRRI Student Water Research Grant. Each student received $6000 to conduct research on innovative wastewater treatment and desalination technologies.
2018 February
Dr. Xu has been named Alan I. Leshner Leadership Institute Public Engagement Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She is one of 15 food and water security researchers selected for the 2018-19 honor. The scientists were chosen demonstrating leadership and excellence in their research careers and an interest in promoting meaningful dialogue between science and society.
2018 January
Dr. Xu and the EnLITE research team receive the NMSU Research Discovery Award!
2017 August
Welcome Lin Chen, a new PhD student to join the research group!
2017 May
Congratulations to Lu Lin and Wenbin Jiang on graduating with a PhD from NMSU! Lu and Wenbin will continue their research as postdoctoral associates in Dr. Xu’s group.
Drs. Khandan, Bawazir and Xu win the Team Award for Creative Scholarly Activity from the University Research Council (URC).
Welcome Alexandra Gibbs (Appalachian State University) and Samantha McVety (University of Southern California) to join the research group for the summer as ReNUWIt REU students!
2017 April
NMSU Team Wins at the 27th Annual International Environmental Design Contest! Shanka Henkanatte Gedara and Lu Lin in Civil Engineering, and Wenbin Jiang in Chemistry & Biochemistry represented NMSU student team and competed in the open task division. The faculty advisor of the team is Dr. Pei Xu.
The NMSU team demonstrated an integrated algal- and membrane-based system for wastewater treatment and potable water recovery. The project aims to overcome the limitations of current wastewater treatment processes by developing innovative technologies that are cost effective, energy efficient, can recover resources from wastewater, and generate potable quality water from sewage. The design project is expected to benefit local communities in arid and semi-arid regions of the world including southwestern United States that are lacking of fresh water supplies.
The creative design of the NMSU team to solve real-world water and environmental challenges was well recognized during the contest. The team was presented two awards – the Peer Award, and the EPA Energy Efficiency/Pollution Control Award. Congratulations Shanka, Lu and Wenbin!
2017 March
Charlie He with Carollo Engineers and Dr. Xu were invited to give a talk at the 2017 Multi-State Salinity Coalition Annual Salinity Summit. The presentation was titled “Electrodialysis Research Update Mono-Valent Selective Ion Exchange Membranes for Saline Water Reuse and Desalination.”
2017 February
Welcome Xinfeng Wang, a visiting PhD student from China Agriculture University, to join the research group!
Dr. Xu received the 2017 NMSU Bromilow Engineering Research Excellence Award.
2017 January
Welcome Alfredo Zendejas Rodriguez, a new Master’s graduate student, to join the research group!
2016 December
Congratulations to Lu Lin on publishing a paper as the lead author in Chemical Engineering Journal! The paper is tilted “Immobilized TiO 2-reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites on optical fibers as high performance photocatalysts for degradation of pharmaceuticals.”
2016 November
Dr. Xu collaborated with Dr. Miguel Acevedo at the University of North Texas and won a pitch-to-pilot competition funded by the Bureau of Reclamation. The goal of the joint project is to promote a renewable energy powered desalination technology to recover water (drinking and irrigation) and fertilizers from brackish water while achieving zero liquid discharge.
2016 October
Congratulations to Lu Lin on passing the comprehensive exam of her PhD thesis!
2016 September
Dr. Xu and Guanyu Ma collaborated with Colorado School of Mines and completed a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The project developed an integrated decision support tool for characterization, treatment and beneficial use of flowback and produced Water.
2016 August
Welcome two new Master’s graduate students, Million Tesfai and Ahmed Radhi Mkaouar, to join the research group!
Congratulations to Lu Lin on presenting her research at the 252nd ACS National Meeting in Philadelphia, PA.
2016 July
Congratulations to Guanyu Ma on passing the qualifying exam of his PhD thesis!
Congratulations to Zachary Stoll on publishing a paper as a lead author in Chemosphere. The paper is titled “Sacrificing power for more cost-effective treatment: A techno-economic approach for engineering microbial fuel cells.”
Dr. Xu and Guanyu Ma collaborated with the faculty and researchers at the NM Water Resources Research Institute, NMSU, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico Tech, NM Environment Department, and industry, to investigate the feasibility of utilizing produced water to improve drinking water supply in southeastern New Mexico. The project reports can be downloaded at: https://nmwrri.nmsu.edu/produced-water/.
2016 June
Congratulations to Zachary Stoll on winning the 3rd Place Fresh Ideas Poster Competition at the AWWA’s Annual Conference & Exposition (ACE16) in Chicago, IL.
2016 May
Congratulations to Zachary Stoll on graduating with a PhD from NMSU! Zach will continue his career as a postdoc researcher at University of New Mexico to investigate the removal of emerging contaminants of concern using membrane technologies.
Congratulations to Zachary Stoll on winning the 1st Place Best Poster Award at the RMSAWWA/RMWEA 13th Annual Student Conference in Laramie, Wyoming.
Congratulations to Celeste Leslie on passing the Master’s thesis final exam and graduating from NMSU!
2016 April
Congratulations to Lu Lin on publishing a paper as a lead author in Photochemistry and Photobiology. The paper is titled “Photocatalytic treatment of desalination concentrate using optical fibers coated with nanostructured thin films: impact of water chemistry and seasonal climate variations.”
2016 March
Dr. Xu and Dr. Huiyao Wang were awarded a research project funded by the Bureau of Reclamation to develop low fouling and high performance ion exchange membranes using nanotechnologies.
2016 January
Congratulations to Zachary Stoll on publishing a paper as a lead author in Energy Technology. The paper is titled “Interplay of anode, cathode and current in microbial fuel cells: implications for wastewater treatment.”
2015 December
Dr. Xu received funding from New Mexico Environment Department and NMWRRI to investigate the feasibility of treating and beneficial reuse of produced water in Permian Basin.
2015 July
Zachary Stoll and Lu Lin participated in the 2015 International Challenge Week in Sheffield, UK. The training was supported through the Industrial Doctorate Centre for the UK Water Sector (STREAM) and the Engineering Research Centre (ERC) for Re-inventing the Nation’s Urban Water Infrastructure (ReNUWIt).
2015 June
Congratulations to Xuesong Xu and Lu Lin on receiving the College of Engineering Doctoral Enhancement Stipend Award!
Congratulations to Lu Lin as a recipient of the National Institute of Water Resources Powell Region Conference Award. Lu presented her research at the UCOWR/NIWR/CUAHSI Conference in Henderson, NV.
Welcome Theresa Chu (Cornell University) and Savannah Wunderlich (University of Notre Dame) to join the research group for the summer as ReNUWIt REU students!
2015 May
Congratulations to Lu Lin as the recipient of Outstanding Graduate Assistantship Award of New Mexico State University!
2015 April
Congratulations to Lu Lin on publishing a paper as a lead author in Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry. The paper is titled “Enhanced photocatalysis using side-glowing optical fibers coated with Fe-TiO2 nanocomposite thin films.”
2015 January
Congratulations to Xuesong Xu on publishing a paper as a lead author in Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. The paper is titled “Use of drinking water treatment solids for arsenic removal from desalination concentrate.”
2015 October
Congratulations to Zachary Stoll on passing the comprehensive exam of his PhD thesis!
2015 May
Welcome Robert Storey to join the research group as undergraduate research assistant!
2015 April
Congratulations to Guanyu Ma on passing the Master’s thesis defense! Guanyu will continue his PhD study at NMSU.
2015 February
Congratulations to Xuesong Xu on passing the Master’s thesis defense! Xuesong will continue his PhD study at NMSU.
2015 January
Congratulations to Lu Lin on passing the Master’s thesis defense! Lu will continue her PhD study at NMSU.
2014 December
Congratulations to Zachary Stoll on publishing two papers in Journal of Hazardous Materials and Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology on shale gas produced water treatment using innovative microbial capacitive desalination cell.
2014 November
Welcome visiting student Sarah Cotterill from Newcastle University to work with the research group.
2014 October
Congratulations to Eduardo Davila and Andres Alvarez on presenting their research at the 2014 New Mexico State University Research Council Fair.
2014 September
Congratulations to Xuesong Xu and Lu Lin presenting their research at the 29th Annual WateReuse Symposium in Dallas, TX. Lu received the 1st Place Best Poster Award!
2014 August
Dr. Xu received funding from Bureau of Reclamation to conduct pilot and laboratory testing to demonstrate monovalent selective ion exchange membranes for desalination and reuse enhancement. This project is in collaboration with Carollo Engineers and GE Water.
Welcome visiting professor Zhaokun Ma from Beijing University of Chemical Technology to work in our research group!
2014 July
Congratulations to Guanyu Ma on presenting the research at the 2014 Shale Energy Engineering Conference: Technical Challenges, Environmental Issues, and Public Policy, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Zachary Stoll participated in the 2014 STREAM-ReNUWIt International Challenge Week in Cranfield, UK, and received training on advanced molecular microbiology techniques at the Newcastle University, UK.
2014 June
Welcome Erin Voss (Missouri State University) to join the research group for the summer as ReNUWIt REU student!
Congratulations to Lu Lin on publishing a paper in Separation and Purification Technology. The paper is titled “Sorption of Metals and Metalloids from Reverse Osmosis Concentrate on Drinking Water Treatment Solids.”
2014 May
Welcome Eduardo Davila, Keith Salais, and Andres Alvarez to join the research group as undergraduate research assistants.
2014 April
Congratulations to Zachary Stoll on passing the qualifying exam of his PhD thesis!
Dr. Xu presented the research on produced water management at the 59th Transportation Engineering Conference. Las Cruces, New Mexico.
2014 March
Dr. Xu received funding from USGS/NMWRRI to develop self-sustaining produced water treatment process.
2013 August
Welcome Zachary Stoll, Lu Lin, Guanyu Ma, Xuesong Xu, and Josue Magana to join the research group!
2013 July
Dr. Xu presented at the 2013 AEESP 50th Anniversary Conference. Environmental Engineers and Scientists of 2050: Education, Research, and Practice. Golden, CO.
2013 June
Dr. Xu served as the session chair for the 23rd Annual Meeting of North American Membrane Society in Boise, ID.
Dr. Xu will collaborate with Colorado School of Mines to develop decision support tools for produced water and hydraulic fracturing flowback water management, treatment and beneficial use. The project is funded by the U.S. DOE/RPSEA (Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America).
2013 May
Congratulations to Zachary Stoll as the recipient of the NMSU Graduate Research Enhancement Grants!
Congratulations to Guanyu Ma as the recipient of NMSU Graduate Tuition Fellowship!